chapter 4 - DRK

Strictly under embargo until Wednesday 22 September at 00:01 GMT (02:01 Geneva time)4migrants80CHAPTER 4into city life creating a volatile atmosphere and leading to violent confrontationsbetween groups competing for scarce resources. Forcible eviction is a constantthreat. Large-scale evictions by public authorities displace millions every year, sometimesfor redevelopment or beautification projects, or simply to target and removeundesirable groups.In Mumbai, India, up to 400,000 people were displaced by a slum-clearance drive inlate 2004 and early 2005, while in Zimbabwe, 700,000 people were forced to vacatetheir homes in six weeks in May–June 2005. Most of these people ended up even morevulnerable than before. Cambodia has one of the fastest-growing rates of urbanizationin Asia and, in recent years, Phnom Penh has experienced an unprecedented boom inproperty values. As market prices have increased, whole communities have been relocatedfrom land they occupied or bought in the post-war period, or forced out of theirhomes to make way for condominiums, shopping malls and office blocks. Housingrights groups estimate that 133,000 people – 10 per cent of the city’s population – havebeen evicted since 1990.Many of these conditions can also be seen in Dhaka, Bangladesh, one of the world’sfastest-growing cities. Here, the population was 400,000 in 1950, grew to around 12million by 2007 and is projected to reach 20 million by 2020. Between one-third andone-half of its residents are poor, living in 3,000 slums and squatter settlements. Manyexperience physical harm or murder at the hands of mastaans, armed thugs who controlthe slums through extortion and terror. Migrant women who work long hours andwalk home late at night are particularly vulnerable. In 2001, the government enactedan urban cleansing programme in the slums. Reportedly, while the police carried outmass evictions, mastaans raped and looted unhindered.InequalityA factor even more important than poverty is inequality. Countries with high levels ofurban violence tend to suffer from very unequal income distribution patterns and thisunequal access to economic opportunity is frequently cited as the main risk factor forurban violence. Studies have shown that income inequality – which is highest in Africaand Latin America – is much more strongly associated with violent crime than poverty.In Latin America, homicide rates are between 40 and 56 per cent higher than the restof the world. According to data compiled by the UN Economic Commission for LatinAmerica and the Caribbean (ECLAC), 180 million people in the region are living inpoverty, 71 million of whom are classed as indigent or ultra-poor. Figures for 2008indicate a slowdown in poverty reduction and a reversal of the downward trend inindigence since 2002. Only Brazil, Paraguay and Peru continued to reduce the numberof people living in ultra-poverty, by around 1 percentage point. Indigence increased bybetween 1.4 and 2.5 per cent in Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexicoand Panama. Costa Rica and Uruguay recorded very slight increases. In Colombia,indigence rose by 2.7 per cent between 2005 and 2008, or 0.9 per cent per year.